A healthcare worker administers a Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine to personal support worker Derek Thompson at The Michener Institute, in Toronto on Dec. 14, 2020.
CARLOS OSORIO/Reuters
Canada’s national vaccination campaign to stop the spread of COVID-19 began with joy and relief on Monday, while challenges facing the mass inoculation plan rose to the surface as hundreds of Quebec nursing-home workers passed on the shot for now.
Gisèle Levesque, an 89-year-old resident of a Quebec City nursing home, did not flinch as she received her needle in the arm at 11:25 a.m. A short time later and about 250 kilometres to the southwest, Gloria Lallouz, 78, received her dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a nursing home on the west side of Montreal. Anita Quidangen, a Toronto personal support worker who has worked with seniors since 1988, received the vaccine just after noon.
“I feel happy, I feel good,” Ms. Lallouz told reporters gathered outside her nursing home after her shot. “I’ve been stuck in my room for eight months. Eight months, without leaving my room. I hope everyone gets the vaccine. It’s important to live again.”
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Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu said she wept hearing Ms. Lallouz describe her wish to find her life once more. Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé chimed in, saying he choked up as well.
The campaign to bring the vaccine to Canada’s 38 million people started at a rate of about six people an hour at four locations in Ontario and Quebec on Monday.
Quebec received 4,875 doses this week, and Ontario got 6,000. Each Quebec site planned 150 injections on Monday and to ramp up to 500 a day, while Ontario started with five vaccinations in Toronto. Other parts of the country expect to begin vaccinating people later in the week.
In Montreal, Ms. Lallouz and most of the other 326 residents of the Donald Berman Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Montreal enthusiastically welcomed the vaccine, but workers proved more reluctant. While 95 per cent of residents signed up, only 35 per cent to 40 per cent of the home’s 500 workers did, according to Francine Dupuis, associate chief executive officer of the west-central health district of Montreal Island.
“They’re not against it, they’re hesitant. They don’t want to be first,” Ms. Dupuis said. “They said, ‘Yes, but not now. We’ll wait for the next wave when we see how people react.’ ”
Mr. Dubé said he is not concerned. “I don’t think we should read too much into those numbers,” Mr. Dubé said. “In the first groups we will see the most enthusiastic people. In coming weeks, I’m convinced more will sign up.”
The public shows more interest in getting vaccinated quickly, according to a poll from the Angus Reid Institute. Results published on Monday showed 48 per cent of Canadians want to be vaccinated as soon as possible, a rise of eight percentage points from one month earlier. Seventy-nine per cent of Canadians said they would get vaccinated soon or eventually, a rise of three percentage points from one month earlier.
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Noni MacDonald, a Dalhousie University professor who researches vaccine safety and policy, said it’s normal for some people to hesitate.
“For anything that’s new, it doesn’t matter if it’s technology, a health care intervention, a different car, whatever, there are early adopters, and there are people who want to wait and watch. It doesn’t surprise me that there’s some health care workers who want to wait and watch,” Dr. MacDonald said. But she added she was surprised by the number, because the vaccine is an important way for workers in health care facilities to protect themselves.
The federal public-health agency is planning an education campaign for the new year to target priority groups. Spokesperson Natalie Mohamed said the campaign will cover vaccine safety, the regulatory process, and the need to continue to follow public-health advice to limit the spread of COVID-19.
That campaign should target Canadians where they get their information, Dr. MacDonald said.
“Seniors are not on TikTok,” Dr. MacDonald said. “So how I might want to reach a 20- to 30-year-old is very different than how I would want to reach an over-80-year-old.” Similarly, she said some new Canadians and refugees are less likely to trust a government message, so the campaign has to be adapted.
Federal officials could not give a precise timeline for the arrival of 249,000 doses expected by the end of the month. Canada is to receive 30,000 doses this week, but officials are less certain about 30,000 that had been scheduled for next week.
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“We’re not expecting 30,000 next week,” said Major-General Dany Fortin, who is leading the logistics for the Public Health Agency of Canada. “But at this time, I’m not prepared to speak to the exact numbers.”
Christina Antoniou, a spokesperson for Pfizer Canada, said the company will be able to “deliver on our full committed volume and meet the needs of Canadian vaccination points by the end of the month.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned Ontarians of the long road ahead, asking people to follow public-health rules in the meantime. “This is a watershed moment — the beginning of the end of this terrible pandemic,” Mr. Ford said.
The province intends to vaccinate 2,500 health care workers in hospitals and long-term homes this week and save the rest of the vaccine for the second dose required in three weeks. The Ontario vaccine went to Toronto’s University Health Network and The Ottawa Hospital.
Quebec plans to give out all of its first shipment as first doses, concentrating on nursing home residents and workers.
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B.C. and Alberta each received 3,900 doses on Monday. B.C.’s will be administered on Tuesday at two sites in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions, while Alberta’s will be administered on Wednesday at two hospitals in Edmonton and two in Calgary.
B.C. Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry said she expects the vaccine to be available to health care workers at nine sites next week, with plans to expand to 30. Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro expected his province to have eight vaccination sites in coming weeks.
Manitoba is expected to receive enough vaccine to immunize 900 people beginning on Wednesday. The first group will be mainly older health care workers. As of Monday, 668 health care workers had booked appointments, Premier Brian Pallister said.
With a report from Andrea Woo
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TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
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